A computer network is a collection of computers and other hardware interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information. Communication protocols define the rules and data formats for exchanging information in a computer network.
Distributed computing involves multiple computing devices organized to cooperatively perform a particular application. For example, a computationally expensive task may be split into subtasks to be performed in parallel by the computing devices in the distributed network, allowing the task to be completed faster. Distributing computing may also involve fragmenting a data set and storing it across multiple storage devices. Distributed computing may also involve the multiple computing devices handling individual requests from clients, such as requests for data received over the Internet. Providing computing services over the Internet using such a distributed approach is generally referred to as “cloud computing.”